2014; March 03.


Sehun walked into the auditorium and straight to where he could see a bunch of nervous-looking people wearing light blue scrubs. He was very nervous himself, not knowing who’d he be teamed up with; he hoped they’d at least be smart people. Taking his time to walk up to them, he made his way down the large steps, focusing on his matching dark blue crocs. He thought sheepishly of Zitao, alumni from the university and a year one resident in this very hospital, who was also known all around campus because of his eclectic fashion sense. Sehun was sure he must’ve thrown a tantrum when he was told he had to wear such hideous shoes to work.

“Well, well, weeell, look who’s here. I knew we were fated to be together forever!”

Sehun heard a strangely familiar voice sing-sang mock sweetly from his left side, whose owner was none other than Kim Jongdae. He snorted.

“I’m on team 12, you’re in my team?”

He asked, not believing his luck. Jongdae was incredibly capable, despite his odd antics and incapability of being serious for more than it was strictly necessary.

“As a matter of fact, I am. Chanyeol and Baekhyun, too!”

Sehun’s eyes opened dramatically. “You must be kidding. That can’t be possible.”

Jongdae just grinned at him.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun were not exactly friends with Sehun, but they were Jongdae’s best friends. They had all met once or twice at some fancy party with paid DJs, caviar canapés and expensive alcohol. The ‘woes’ of being a medicine student and all that. If he remembered correctly, they had been dating since forever, and were just as cheeky as Jongdae. This would be fun.

“There are two more team members, but they won’t reveal any name till said people are in this room,” Jongdae informed him.

“Well, let’s just hope they’re not stupid,” Sehun sighed.

Jongdae gave him his best ‘are you freaking kidding me’ face. “Someone stupid wouldn’t really put up with us. They would quit.”

He had a point.

A few minutes later, a short man with light brown hair walked into the room and right up to Jongdae and Sehun.

“Is this team 12?” he asked them, giving them a blinding, yet very, very beautiful smile. Sehun heard Jongdae gasp loudly.

“Uh… yeah, it is. Are you part of the team?” He asked the man, who hummed in response.

“I’m Kim Junmyeon, it’s nice to meet both of you, but… aren’t there any more members in this team?” He asked, still smiling, as he held out a hand first to Sehun, then to Jongdae.

Sehun shook his head. “There are, those two you see at the end of the row of seats, plus another mystery member who has yet to arrive.”

“Oh.”

As Junmyeon went to introduce himself to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Sehun turned to look at Jongdae and raised an eyebrow at him, “did the cat get your tongue?” Jongdae rolled his eyes at him.

“No. But that man was wow. Beautiful, Sehun, didn’t you see him? Didn’t you?” He clasped both of his hands over his mouth.

“You have a crush on your teammate already? Damn, that was fast.”

Their sixth member had yet to come when the director stood up on stage to introduce himself and talk about the place they’d be jailed in for the next year and a half. He then made each team nominate a member to pick each team’s monthly schedule. All schedules were thickly covered so no one would pick what they wanted best. Oh how Sehun wished he could have seen that.

As he revealed month by month, his team, with exception of Junmyeon, groaned loudly:

March: E.R.
April: E.R.
May: E.R.
June: E.R.
July: Radiology
August: I.C.U.

“That’s nice. Apparently, the E.R. chief eats interns for breakfast,” Jongdae joked half-heartedly.

“We’re dead, you hear me? Dead. It’s not the chief, but the place itself,” Chanyeol sighed.

“I don’t see why,” everyone turned to look at Junmyeon. “What? It’s true. Don’t you think it’ll be good? We’ll be working under pressure, yes, but I think it’s better to start like this, than have to spend four months working in the Radiology department and then be thrown to the wolves only knowing how to develop and examine x-rays,” he finished, smiling at them before he started walking in the direction of the door.

“He’s got some spirit, but I can see where he’s coming from. Let’s do our best,” Baekhyun whispered dejectedly, as if trying to cheer himself up.


“Are you the team designated to the E.R. all through March?” A man much taller than them asked, face expressionless. A timid Jongdae –which was rare in itself– replied an airy ‘yes’.

“Are you all mute? Why aren’t you answering? Are you the team that will be working in the E.R. during this month?” He asked again.

“Yes!” Junmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun shouted, Sehun joining them belatedly.

“Good. I’m sure Director Choi already instructed you, so I’ll be clear and concise,” the man, who they were pretty sure was the E.R. chief, told them. His voice was husky and would almost be soothing, weren’t it for that dangerous lack of expression permanently etched onto his face.

“I’m Wu Yifan, Chief Wu for you. There are only two things to know before working in my E.R.; 1. If one of you gets a bad grade, the whole team will suffer for it. It’s only fair and it’ll also help you watch out so you don’t up. 2. If I decide something in the E.R., it becomes the truth, the life and the law. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes!”

“Now I’ll check which ones of you are here, since I’m only seeing five faces instead of six. I think there’s been enough time for that sixth team member to show up. There are three things I can’t stand: slackers, interns who think they know everything just because they read it in a book, and people who are late.“

He shuffled some papers until he found what he was looking for: the sheet of paper with the interns’ information.

“Oh Sehun.”

“Here,” he said, loud enough to make a few heads turn around.

“Park Chanyeol.”

“Park Chanyeol is here, too.”

“Byun Baekhyun.”

“Yes!” He shouted so energetically, the chief shot him a glare that made him recoil. Chanyeol reached out sneakily and patted him on the back.

“Kim Jongdae.”

“Yes, chief, I’m here.”

“Kim Junmyeon.”

“Here.”

“Lu Han.” Sehun choked. “Is Lu Han not here?”

“Excuse me, Lu Han?” Sehun asked, kicking himself mentally for even opening his mouth. Yifan hummed.

“Lu Han, born in 1987. Why, do you know him?” Sehun almost faints. It couldn’t be.

“No, I do not.”

At that exact moment, a tiny, very familiar frame –to Sehun– came running into the E.R. Sehun cursed as he inwardly laughed bitterly at his luck, of course the timing was this ty, of course his life had to happen like those cliché dramas the man currently in front of him loved. Of course. He wanted to scream.

“Oh, my god, I am so, so sorry! Please forgive me. There was a car wreck on the way here,” Lu Han frantically explained himself to the chief. “Are you the chief? You must be. I’m really sorry! I’m sorry!” He turned to bow to his teammates, 90 degrees. That was until he saw Sehun and his face went completely white, lips and all.

Sehun had never witnessed Lu Han be that polite, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. It was Lu Han he was seeing in front of him. Anime-like Lu Han, I-can-eat-three-times-more-than-you Lu Han, drama-obsessed Lu Han. His ing ex-husband: Lu Han. Everything seemed to move in slow motion when their eyes met; while Sehun wanted to scream at everyone and ask the universe why it was so cruel to him, Lu Han wanted to run, but not without punching Sehun’s face first.

“Do you think I care why you’re late? I don’t care if you had to fight Godzilla on your way here, or if Choi Young came back from year 1300 and kidnapped you, how are you so irresponsible to be late on your first day as an intern?!” Yifan raised his voice, which had been mostly emotionless and serene, as he asked Lu Han.

“Why are you here? Did you think you could just come here late and have all your benefits waiting for you? You’ve got nerve,” Yifan chewed him off while pacing back and forth in front of the interns. No one dared break the silence.

“You’re all dismissed, go get your coats and IDs, and get your lazy asses to work. As for you,” he turned to Lu Han and glared at him, “go change into your scrubs and get your coat and ID, too. Then come to my office. We’ll have a chat.”

Sehun snickered when Yifan was out of hearing range. He walked away, completely ignoring Lu Han and his annoyed face, before he could ask him why he was here. Sehun had been born a doctor; he didn’t have to deal with mediocre things like Lu Han and his questions.

Lu Han waited until the rest of the team were done in the men’s locker to change his clothes. He was both grateful and on the verge of having a mental breakdown. He’d always had bad luck, but this was a new level. He was sure fate was working against him; first, he’d been late, and then he’d seen the last person he could ever want to see, not only in his same place of work, but also, working in his team. He wondered what wrong he’d done in his life to deserve this.

“Endure,” he told himself, “you have to endure this. It’s just a year and a half, not your whole life, like it could have been. Men don’t cry nor do they quit when things get ugly. Endure it. Man the up, Lu Han.”

He splashed his face with water and left the room before making his way to nurse station. He asked one of them –the one who looked less likely to punch him if he asked her– where to find the office; she explained easily. He thanked her and made his way, hoping the chief wouldn’t be too hard on him, not literally. He chuckled to himself before knocking three times on his door.

“Come in,” Lu Han did. “Oh, it’s you. Have a seat.”

Lu Han hardly ever felt threatened or intimidated by people, so he wasn’t really worried about having to deal with the chief; he was more worried about losing his job on the first day. It’d taken him a lot of effort to pass the internship test.

“Since I was worried you’d slept in on your first day, I checked the news. You didn’t lie; there was an accident on the main road here from where you live, so it was blocked until 10 minutes before you came into the E.R.” Yifan told him. “I will let you go this once, but if you’re late again, I won’t listen to your reasons. Doctors have to be available at any time of day, and always on time” he looked at Lu Han expectantly.

“Yes, chief. I won’t be late again.”

Yifan nodded, satisfied, “you may leave.”

As he walked out of the room, he saw Sehun walking towards the stairs that led to the rooftop. Against his every principle, he followed him, partly because he was curious, but mostly because whatever Sehun did there, Lu Han could use to his benefit later.

“This has got to be a nightmare,” Lu Han saw Sehun pinch himself. “Why am I not waking up, huh? What could I have possibly done so wrong that now you are punishing me this badly, huh? HUH!?” he screamed at what Lu Han supposed was the sky.

“I still remember a very poorly made pork belly; that might help you start your list of things you’ve just not excelled at,” Sehun turned around bewildered, only to scowl at Lu Han.

“Did you follow me?”

Lu Han snorted, as if it was his second nature, “I don’t make the same mistakes twice, Hunnie.” With that, he smirked at Sehun and his heels, going back into the building, very aware of having lied and used an old pet name to just to rile Sehun up.


March 12.


Lu Han chewed on the last bite of his lunch absentmindedly, determined to not think about how his day had started off so horribly. His alarm had went off, but he’d hit snooze for the following thirty minutes while still asleep. Then, he’d had to explain himself to the chief, which hadn’t gone exactly well.

“You’re late? Again?” the chief yelled before breathing deeply, what for, Lu Han didn’t know; the screaming resumed when he laid eyes on Lu Han once again. “What happened now?”

What scared Lu Han this time wasn’t the chief, but the way he had no explanation to his lateness whatsoever. He’d been five minutes late and he knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed.

“I have no excuse, chief,” Lu Han sighed.

“Come to my office right now,” Yifan levelled a stare to the rest of the team. “And you, go get something to do unless you want to join Lu Han,” Yifan told them, voice tight, before walking in the direction of his office, Lu Han in tow. 

”You,” Yifan’s voice was icy, “who on earth do you think you are? The rest of your team got here on time. I, who could get here at noon if I so willed, was here on time.” He shook his head before looking at Lu Han intently, “why should I not fire you? Please tell me, because I can’t really find a reason not to.”

Lu Han gulped. He knew Yifan was right and he had nothing to say.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re asking me? Then let me ask you something as well, why are you here?” Lu Han stared at him, lips quivering, unsure of what Yifan meant with that question. Yifan ploughed on at the lack of an answer, “a person like you has no right, no talent and definitely not the right attitude to become a doctor, so why are you here?”


It’d taken Lu Han by surprise to hear such words, it was as if Yifan knew what to say to get him right where it hurt most, but he was set to do his best and not waste this miraculous second chance he’d been given. He wasn’t one to give up easily anyway.

He looked up in time to see Sehun and Junmyeon sit on the table in front of his. He could hear their conversation and it took everything he had in him not to roll his eyes at them; he had a feeling it somehow would be audible.

“I must be going crazy,” he snorted.

It wasn’t that he cared what Sehun did or didn’t do, but they were divorced for a reason. Even if they were working together –in the same team, not together–, he’d figured they could at least not see each other during lunch break. Apparently, Sehun didn’t think the same.

“Seriously, I love rock music, I really do!” he heard Sehun say.

Lu Han was not convinced; Sehun could rap Epik High’s and Verbal Jint’s discographies entirely, but the closest thing to rock he seemed to listen to was Nell and maybe a few CNBLUE songs. That couldn’t have changed in so little time. Lu Han chuckled; didn’t Sehun know lying to make someone like him wouldn’t work?

“Dumb as ever,” he mumbled to himself as he walked out of the food court of the hospital.


Sehun made a promise to himself to bother Lu Han as much as he could. He knew telling him to quit would result in Lu Han being stubborn and staying even if he was fired, even if it meant he had to beg and lose whatever was left of his dignity.

“Doctor!” A man exclaimed just as Sehun walked past the waiting room. “Doctor, I’ve been waiting for someone to give me some painkillers, I have somewhere to be in a half hour, but I can’t go because it hurts.”

Sehun hummed. “Where does it hurt?” He suspected appendicitis straight way; the man was clutching his lower abdomen and seemed to be making a big effort not to show how much it was actually hurting.

“Here,” he signalled to his right side, “but I suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, the only medication that works for me is Paradeine, can’t you just give me a couple tablets?”

“Sure. Can I see your prescription first?”

The patient sighed, “I don’t have it with me right now, I wasn’t aware I’d ran out of pills, so I left it at home,” he explained.

“Then no, I don’t think I can help you, sorry,” he was being careful, if this man in front of him was a junkie, he was more than likely to make a scene.

“For s sake, kid,” he said, his face still polite and composed, but his eyes and voice were almost threatening, “it’s just a pill. If you can’t give me it, then call your supervisor, I want to speak to them. Maybe they’ll understand; I think you deserve a good scolding. I hate useless doctors like you,” the man finished.

His face was so serene, Sehun thought that maybe his expression was like this due to Botox; he had a handsome face, which looked natural, but that level of beauty was rarely natural nowadays. He didn’t want to deal with the chief before he had the chance to digest his lunch, though.

“Okay, okay. I will give you one pill, but you will have to wait,” Sehun grumbled.

Lu Han watched Sehun go before walking in the direction of the chief’s office, hoping to find him there and get him to the patient before Sehun, so he could get a good scolding. Lu Han was aware of how low he was going to stoop, but he figured that, if he tilted his head in the right angle, it would help Sehun in the long run; he only cared about dicking around with Sehun’s mood for a bit, anyway.

He knocked two times before going into the room, Yifan looked up, “I never said you could come in,” Lu Han rolled his eyes, since Yifan’s eyes were already back on the report he was reading.

“I’m aware. However, I think you need to come, and come quickly,” Yifan sighed heavily.

“Is there an emergency? I’m busy, in case you’ve not noticed,” Lu Han was on the verge of screaming, not sure whether he wanted to do so in frustration or just to the person in front of him.

“We do work in an emergency room, though. But the thing is, there is a patient asking for Paradeine and one intern has gone to get one without being showed a prescription”.

Yifan stood up and promptly tripped over his own feet; he glared at his shoes. Lu Han would swear he saw a blush somewhere there, too. They walked to the emergency room while Lu Han wished there would come a day when he and Yifan were close enough that he could about this. Sehun was already walking towards the man’s temporary bed. Yifan sprinted towards them, but stopped cold when the patient turned to face Sehun.

“Yixing?” Yifan’s voice was so low and full of something akin to surprise and warmth, it startled both Lu Han and Sehun.

The patient, Yixing, apparently, turned to smile at the chief, “hi, Yifan, or should I call you ‘chief’, too?” he chuckled, “long time no see and all that, are you not going to talk to me at all?” Yifan turned around, walking back to his office. “I’ll talk to you later,” Yixing told Sehun before following Yifan, still smiling.


March 25.


“I think the chief and Dr. Zhang are dating,” Jongdae whispered as he and Sehun checked in a patient.

“Why do you say that?” Sehun replied, mentally agreeing. He would not admit to that, though; it was none of his business.

“He’s the only one who ever talks and smiles when chief’s around. Not even the rest of the residents act like that around him,” he finished wrapping a piece of gauze around the patient’s wrist as Sehun did the same to his left ankle, “you are lucky,” Jongdae told the patient, “your wrist is twisted, and you can’t walk for the next four weeks, but we both know you could have cracked your skull open. It must have been a nasty fall,” the patient nodded apologetically and thanked both doctors for their help.

When they got to the lockers to change into cleaner scrubs, Jongdae picked up their earlier conversation again.

“I don’t know. Lu Han seems to get along with the chief just fine. Maybe it’s a Chinese thing.”

Sehun rolled his eyes at him, “I don’t know, Lu Han seems so dodgy, don’t you think?” he asked nonchalantly as he held the door open for Jongdae.

“Remember when we had to do an emergency practice and I got paired up with him? I was a bit apprehensive at first, but he worked flawlessly. I think he’s just really kept to himself,” was all Jongdae said. Sehun sighed heavily, how could all of them ignore how horrible Lu Han was?

“If you say so.”


“Jongdae, Sehun!” Chanyeol hollered as soon as they walked into the waiting room, eyes frantic, “we need to hurry, there are three ambulances getting here in less than three minutes, apparently there was an attempted robbery downtown, the burglar got nervous and shoot three people and then tried to kill himself, but the police shot him down before he had the chance.”

They walked to the entrance where an ambulance was already parking, paramedics quickly hopping off it to open the back door and carefully easing a patient out. Baekhyun and Junmyeon were already pushing the stretcher into the hospital and then one of the cubicles designated for emergency surgeries. Chanyeol and Jongdae took care of the next patient, who seemed to be conscious, since she was in a wheelchair. Sehun vaguely noted she seemed distressed before the next ambulance pulled up and he noticed he had no one else to pair up with but Lu Han. He did not have half the mind to whine about this turnout of events.

Unluckily for them, this one was knocked out, shirt soaked with blood, cut in half to show a bullet wound on the right side of his chest, a little under the collarbone. That would be a very fun thing to treat, really.

Sehun pushed the stretcher, while Lu Han raced to their cubicle to get things ready. A nurse and a resident –Lu Han recognised him as Minseok– walked in seconds after him, Sehun following suit.

“Choi Seunghyun, born in 1987; victim. He’s unconscious, his blood pressure is low and the bleeding has lessened, but we need to take the bullet out,” Sehun explained to the others as Lu Han handed him a pair of gloves; his already gloved hands touched Sehun’s gloveless ones briefly, making him flinch before swiftly putting them on.

“Have you removed a bullet before?” Minseok asked them grabbing a clamp; both Sehun and Lu Han shook their heads, “all right, please soak a cotton wool in antiseptic and clean the wound area,” Lu Han did as Minseok said, wiping the area clean.

“Right,” Minseok continued, “you need someone to watch in case there’s a haemorrhage,” he signalled Sehun to stand by his side, “then, if it’s visible enough, you insert the clamp, and take it out,” Lu Han held out a small tray in Minseok’s direction; he dropped the bullet there.

“You have stitched up someone before, right?” He eyed them.

“Yeah, I did just earlier, I’ll do it again,” Sehun replied.

Minseok nodded, telling them to call him if anything happened to the wound, and then left.

Lu Han was already setting himself up to stitch the wound, “I said I would do it, move,” Sehun said stubbornly.

“Please,” Lu Han stayed put, rolling his eyes at Sehun while sitting himself on the stool previously occupied by Minseok.

“Lu Han, move. I will do it,” the nurse still standing in the room with them snickered on her way out. Lu Han really hated that Sehun was so childish when he wanted to be. He scoffed.

“You couldn’t even sew a button on a shirt, but alright. It’s your responsibility starting from here,” he said handing Sehun the instruments.

Sehun glared at him even when he turned his back and crouched down to grab more supplements for the rest of the superficial wounds the patient had on his arms. However, when Sehun’s gaze followed Lu Han’s figure bending over, he did not expect to see his trousers riding down to let a red lace garter into view, and he would swear on his life that the small red and black see-through thong underneath it didn’t arouse him in the slightest. A million flashbacks went through his mind and it felt like he’d been slapped and forced into watching and old film of his and Lu Han’s times together. The pang of jealousy he felt at the thought of Lu Han dressing like that for someone else surprised Sehun; it had been their thing, anyway.

Lu Han stood back up, Sehun coughed awkwardly when he realised he’d been staring instead of stitching up the still unconscious patient. “You still haven’t done that? What are you waiting for, the patient to bleed to death?” Lu Han sighed, walking around the patient and completely ignoring Sehun’s drooling figure.

Sehun cleared his throat and put his hands to work. This would be a long session.


April 9.


The locker room –which was miraculously devoid of other interns whenever they were there– was full of noise. Lu Han was trying his best to ignore all of them, but it was impossible.

“You okay there?” he heard Junmyeon ask him.

After a month of getting eyes rolled at and snide remarks whenever he walked past his co-workers, they were finally warming up to him. Of course, Junmyeon had been the first one to talk to him, but it had been to remind him that he better stop coming in late because no one wanted a bad grade when it was only his fault. Then, he’d become just close enough to at least sit with him at lunch sometimes. Lu Han didn’t trust him that much, though. He was friends with Sehun, and Lu Han wanted nothing to do with Sehun or people around him.

“Yeah, it’s just a bit noisy.”

Lu Han kept trying to tune them out, but it proved to be impossible; he would have to hurry if he wanted a little bit of peace.

“My hips hurt a lot, though, really,” he heard Chanyeol complain to Jongdae, who snickered.

“You must have worked a lot last night,” he replied, bursting out laughing when Baekhyun walked into the room with a barely noticeable limp. Lu Han couldn’t help but giggle a little to himself as Baekhyun sat carefully beside him to get out of his shoes and into his crocs. For some unknown reason, Lu Han thought Baekhyun would be a nice friend. He saw him stand up, not missing the death glare he sent to both Chanyeol and Jongdae.

“Hey, Sehun. Hurry up!” He yelled in the direction of the showers.

A few seconds later, the water was turned off. Lu Han was not ready, however, to see Sehun walking out of the bathroom with only the lower half of his scrubs on. He had seen all there was to see of him, except now Sehun was sporting some incredible abs, broader shoulders and amazing triceps; he was subtly built and the fact had Lu Han swallowing thickly.

“You’re not hot, Sehun. Cover yourself, there are straight men here,” Chanyeol mock-chided him.

“Chanyeol,” Sehun answered softly, “I don’t think anyone is straight in this room,” he said eyeing Lu Han as if he knew he’d just drooled looking at him shirtless, “and, you know, just because you top, doesn’t mean you’re straight.”

Jongdae howled with laughter telling both Chanyeol and Baekhyun how ‘Sehun was one of them’. Even Junmyeon was laughing, but Chanyeol didn’t seem bothered by Sehun’s words in the slightest.

“Alright, well, since we’re all here and we still have at least three minutes before our shift, Yeol and I are inviting you to our new home tonight,” Baekhyun explained, grinning.

“As you know, we’re practically a married couple, so, since we’ve both finished our school years, we decided it was as good a time as any to move in together,” he concluded, looking at Chanyeol, who was smiling proudly back at him.
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